Shireplitis

Shireplitis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Braconidae
Genus: Shireplitis
Fernández-Triana & Ward, 2013
Type species
Shireplitis bilboi
Fernández-Triana & Ward, 2013

Shireplitis is a genus of braconid wasps native to New Zealand. Individuals range from 1.8–2.4 mm in body length. Five of the six known species occur on South Island, and one on the North Island. The genus name derives from the Shire, fictional home of the hobbits in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and five species are named after hobbits, with one species named after Tolkien himself.[1]

Description

Individuals are brown to black in color, and range from 1.8–2.4 mm in body length, with distinctly narrow fore wings. Species of Shireplitis differ from related genera in the subfamily Microgastrinae in having relatively shorter and stouter legs, shorter antennal segments in females, and sculpturing of the propodeum (first abdominal segment), and in the structure of the hypopygium, a modified 9th abdominal segment.[1]

Species

References

  1. 1 2 Fernandez-Triana, J; Ward, DF; Cardinal, S; Van Achterberg, C (2013). "A review of Paroplitis (Braconidae, Microgastrinae), and description of a new genus from New Zealand, Shireplitis, with convergent morphological traits.". Zootaxa. 3722: 549–568. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3722.4.6. PMID 26171541.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.